Crystal shuttle campus bus crashes in woods
A Crystal Transport shuttle bus driver lost control of a campus shuttle bus and crashed into the woods on Charles River Road last Thursday. There were no students on the bus. The driver, the only person on the bus at the time of the accident, sustained no injuries. The incident is said to have been caused by human error, not mechanical trouble, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan.
Crystal Transport declined to comment.
"Apparently the campus shuttle bus was going down lower Charles River Road on the normal pick-up in the afternoon," Callahan explained.
Tim Kane '10, the eyewitness who reported the accident, said, "[The driver] kind of sped up and started hitting the guard rocks on the side and kind of lost control of the vehicle and zoomed past me."
Kane said the officer in charge told him that the same driver had been in an accident that week. According to the Brandeis police log, on Oct. 22, the day before this incident, the same driver crashed into a parked vehicle on the main campus road and caused minor damage.
After the company inspected the mechanical system of the bus and no defects were found, it became clear that the "driver either hit the gas instead of the brake or initiated too much acceleration and that resulted in the accident," Callahan said. Callahan could not release the driver's name because "the investigation is ongoing."
He continued, "The driver has been terminated from the position due to the safety situation."
"The bus stopped in the woods because it was going into an incline," which "stopped the momentum of the bus," Callahan said.
According to Callahan, the bus schedule resumed within 30 minutes of the accident. Another driver was assigned to continue that route with a different bus, which ran successfully "without cessation of service," he said.
There was significant damage done to the bus. "The bus needs some extensive work," Callahan explained. Though the damage is reparable, the company will need to replace some sheet metal sections. and "one section of the windshield is damaged so the company will eventually repair the bus," he said.
The Waltham Police were on-scene but refused to comment. There was no suspicion of alcohol or drug use, according to Callahan.
-Anya Bergman contributed reporting.
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